Cordelia's Journey
by Cordelia Potter
Summary: A normal girl named Cordelia suddenly is in the forest of Lothlórien......rewritten story.... no romance.... hopefully better! ^-^


Cordelia's Journey by Cordelia Buffy Greenleaf Potter

  
  


disclamer: I don/t own LOTR, Tolkien does!

  
  


I hope you like this one, I got help from my mom and a friend. 

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Cordelia tiredly plucked a key on her family's worn piano. It was so difficult to concentrate on her lessons when the weather outside was so beautiful, so inviting...

The 16-year-old girl stood up and pushed the ebony piano bench aside, her eyes drifting to the open window. The sheer lace drapes were caught up in a gentle updraft of late May. Cordelia sighed, admiring the greenery beyond the window. What world was under that endless blue sky, what adventures and secrets could lurk in a distant forest...

Wait, she was daydreaming now. Her mother would return to the room any minute and find her daughter lazily lying around, and a punishment would definitely ensue. Cordelia frowned and headed back to the piano, where she created a twisting, marred version of Beethoven's Für- Elise. 

"Cordelia, you do not show any signs of improvement!" her mother yelled from the other room over the strained piano melody. Cordelia let her blonde head fall closer to the keys in desperation, a heavy lethargy pulling her down. 

Her song stopped and her mother entered the room, finding her teenage daughter motionless over the keys. 

"Cordelia, begin practicing now! Why did you stop?" her mother's grating voice echoed. Cordelia lifted her head, and her green eyes locked with her mother's identical ones. 

"Mom, can't I just... take a break? I've been playing for an hour," she said in a low voice, twirling a random piece of hair around her forefinger continuously. 

"Yes, fine. But be back inside within five minuets," her mother sighed, going back into the computer room. Cordelia always did this; she seemed to always be searching for that chance to escape, that other world---

Cordelia felt the luxurious freedom of her back yard. The unimpressive square of grass and the worn, paved driveway did not interest her... but the forest did. It had a wealth of untold secrets, of other worlds hidden in the shadows and of dreams amidst the intermittent sunlight.

She approached the forest slowly, breathing in the May air. It was gently pervading, this weather, and it constantly called to her. Cordelia loved to go outside. At the edge of the forest, Cordelia stepped into the land of trees as if entering another world....

And suddenly the trees changed. The forest became sun-lit and golden, and an ancient song seemed to blow through the trees. Cordelia could feel that someone or something had touched this forest and made it different, blessed. The young girl turned to leave, startled by the sudden change. Surely this was not her back yard! 

She was correct. It was, in fact, another land, another Earth. Stumbling over an empty, rotting log, Cordelia let her eyes search the seemingly endless forest around her. She heard the music again, and this time the ancient melody seemed much more real. 

Cordelia turned her eyes to the left and saw people walking amidst the golden trees. They were wearing a strange white-gray raiment and an otherworldly glow seemed to surround them. They sang softly, walking to the West. 

"Who are they..." Cordelia mumbled to herself, shocked. What was she doing in a world with glowing people in the middle of an ethereal golden forest?

Cordelia walked for nearly a mile and then sat down, kneeling in the sun-touched leaves. She breathed raggedly, tired from shock and from walking. The teenage girl lifted her green eyes to see...

A drawn arrow directly in her face. 

"Who are you?" asked a voice in the Common Speech. Cordelia looked down, terrified. Was this person going to kill her?

"I .... I am Cordelia Whitefield.... um, what do you want with me?" she managed, standing to her feet. Her eyes were greeted with the image of a young man, 30 years in appearance, with a stern face and long golden hair. It was the guard of Lothlórien, Haldir. 

"Who are you? You have the hair of a Lothlórien elf and yet you do not converse with me in Sindarin," Haldir said suspiciously, frowning. He had lowered his weapon, but his arms were crossed. 

"Elf? What's an elf?" Cordelia asked, wondering if this was all a dream. Haldir looked at her oddly, then smiled slightly. 

"You do not hail from Lothlórien, I presume. Well, you seem lost. If you wish, and if you trust me, you can come back to the home of the Lady of the Wood with me," Haldir said reassuringly. Cordelia's head spun. Where was Lothlórien, who was this strange long-haired man, and how did she get here?!

"Allow me to introduce myself, young lady. I am Haldir, an elf, a guard of Lothlórien. I live here.... this is called Middle-earth, and may I ask you how you got here, Lady--"

"Cordelia," she quickly responded, "and I don't know how I got in this forest, even though it's beautiful. I was just practicing my piano when I went outside.."

"Piano?" Haldir asked with a raised eyebrow. Cordelia smiled tiredly. 

"Let's just go back to this place you speak of, Loth-lore-ee-en," Cordelia suggested, stumbling over the name. Haldir nodded, beginning to walk in the other direction. 

"I still do not understand what you are. You are not an elf, that is clear, Cordelia. Your name is not characteristic of the Men of Rohan or Gondor, but you seem to be of the human race," Haldir mused.

"I am a human, but I never heard of those places you're talking about. I'm from Pennsylvania," Cordelia returned, walking briskly to catch up with the blond elf. 

"Pencil- vay- nee- ah?" Haldir said to himself. "Never heard of this land, Cordelia," he concluded. Cordelia smiled, taken away by the fact that she was so far away from home and that she was talking to an elf. 

"We are now near to the center of the Golden Wood. I must blindfold you as you cross this bridge, for you are not an elf and are an outsider," he said, leading the girl after he had tied a cloth over her eyes. 

They reached the other side after a short while, and Haldir then lead her into the Elf-kingdom of Lothlórien that was nestled in the trees. They climbed to see a grand view of the Golden Wood, an ancient and breathtaking forest. 

"Would you like to stay here, or would you like to meet the Lady of the Wood?" asked Haldir, watching Cordelia with interest. 

Who was this visitor, this blonde girl that knew so little of Middle-Earth? How did she come to be in the Golden Wood, alone and without a sense of direction?

"_ You are shrouded in mystery, Cordelia.... maybe Lady Galadriel can make sense of your journey_," Haldir thought to himself.

They approached the thrones of Galadriel and Celeborn, and Cordelia could feel that these two were different. They were ancient and wise, and gave off a pale otherworldly light, as had the other people in the forest. 

"Welcome, Cordelia," said Galadriel in a musical voice. She stood looking down at the newcomer, and noticed the girl's wonder at the Elves. 

"Do not be surprised or alarmed, Cordelia. I knew your name as soon as I saw you, and we are Elves, but that is no matter. We are all equal here in Middle-earth, save for those who desire evil," said the Elf-lady calmly, stepping towards Cordelia. 

"Who..... are you?" asked the young girl, looking up at the Elf in shining white raiment. 

"I am Galadriel, the Lady of the Golden Wood. We welcome you, Celeborn and I. I see that you have strayed into this land, not on a quest or searching for anything, but on a mere coincidence. Maybe it was not a coincidence that you came to Lothlórien, Cordelia. Did you ever think of that?" she inquired, smiling slightly. 

"I don't know... I mean, I feel lost, but somehow, this place is not so strange or foreign. It's certainly a wonderful land," Cordelia managed, seeing that two other elves had joined Haldir in his post.

"Those other elves by Haldir are Rúmil and Orophin, in case you were wondering. They are his brothers," Galadriel added.

"This world... it's so amazing that I am here," said Cordelia in a small voice. Even though she could live with the elves forever, she longed to play that cursed piano again. She longed to spend days outside, watching the clouds and daydreaming....

"You may leave Middle-earth if you wish, Cordelia. Haldir will lead you back to where you came from," Galadriel said, as if reading Cordelia's mind. 

"I would like to return home, Lady Galadriel," Cordelia said softly, turing towards Haldir.

"Let's go, then, Haldir," Cordelia said, bowing to the Elf Lord and Lady as she bid them farewell and thanked them. 

"_You stumbled upon this forest for a reason, and that is still unknown to us, Cordelia. However, you will never lose your memories of this land, the Golden Wood_," said Galadriel in Cordelia's mind as the young girl turned to look at the Wood one last time. 

When they had reached the sunlit part of the forest by which Cordelia had entered, Haldir turned away from her. Then the golden-haired elf turned back for a moment, took her hand, and placed an Elf-brooch in the form of a leaf in her hand. 

"Farewell, Cordelia. May you never forget this forest," he said softly. Cordelia stepped through the trees and the gold faded into green. She was in the silence of her back yard, and the restless birds of May chirped and fluttered overhead. 

"I'm home," whispered Cordelia, as she fingered the Elf-brooch and inside to finish her piano lesson.

  
  


Ok review.... this one's better, right? My mom helped me with spelling and my friend helped me with the lord of the rings stuff. I made up the rest, though!

  
  


  
  


  
  



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